For some people, graduation is the last time they plan on being on their college campus; for Lyndsay Ruffolo, her college campus became home to her career.  

Ruffolo, a professor at Central Connecticut State University in the criminology and criminal justice department, completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at CCSU. While Ruffolo graduated as a criminology major, she didn’t start out in that area of study.   

“When I first started college, I thought I was going to be a communications major,” Ruffolo said.   

Ruffolo said that studying criminology had never crossed her mind and that when she started college, it was a new major. Ruffolo decided to take an introduction to criminal justice course as an undergraduate, which opened her eyes to the field.   

Before taking that course, Ruffolo said that she didn’t know there was more to criminal justice than being a police officer. After seeing all the possibilities criminology had to offer, Ruffolo changed her major.   

After graduation, Ruffolo completed her master’s at CCSU and began working in research within the criminal justice field for CCSU. Ruffolo was responsible for evaluating criminal justice programs around the state and looking at their effectiveness.   

“While I was doing that, I was in the field all the time,” Ruffolo said. “I was in the prisons, I was in the courts, I mean all the time.”  

After five years in this position, Ruffolo “gave up a very cushy full-time state job” for a new job. Ruffolo began working for Wheeler Health, managing the criminal justice programs the company had. Ruffolo spent her time in the field, getting to work firsthand with all kinds of people, including domestic violence victims.   

After three years, Ruffolo made the difficult decision to step back from the job she loved. When she received an offer from CCSU to teach, Ruffolo knew she had to accept.   

“I had the opportunity to work in the department I graduated from,” Ruffolo said. “If I’m going to teach, I want it to be at CCSU.”  

Ruffolo has taught many courses while at CCSU, with her favorite being the first course she ever taught, victimology.   

“This is an opportunity for me to shift the focus away from the offender and onto the victim,” Ruffolo said.  

Ruffolo said that this opportunity is not presented in other courses. Victimology also allows students to get involved on campus, with the course doing work with the Office of Victim Advocacy, Ruffolo said.   

While becoming a professor is not the route Ruffolo saw herself taking, she said she “can’t picture doing anything else.”  

Ruffolo said that she loves getting to work with students and seeing their progression throughout the semester while taking her courses.   

“There’s nothing better than to go to school for all these years, dedicate your entire professional career to something, and then be able to talk about it and have students be interested in what you’re interested in,” Ruffolo said.